Percival Expects to Stay in Game

Troy Percival may have thrown his last big league pitch, but the former Angel closer doesn’t expect to be away from the game for long.

Percival, who stopped by the Angel camp Monday before completing a five-day drive from Florida to Riverside, has an open invitation to work for the Angels and is eager to begin a post-playing career he hopes will culminate in a manager’s job.

“I’m going to try to get back in the game in some capacity, preferably at the big league level, next year,” said Percival, whose comeback with the Detroit Tigers was cut short Feb. 26 by another elbow injury.

“I definitely want to get into coaching and managing, and the Angels said there will be something available to me when I’m ready. They didn’t say whether it would be in the front office, as a roving instructor or a coach, but they’ve been good to me my whole career.”

Percival, who is tied for 10th on baseball’s saves list with 324, hasn’t announced his retirement. However, after sitting out the second half of 2005 because of a muscle tear in his elbow and abandoning his comeback this spring, he said he is “most likely” done.

“I’ll let it rest again, but shoot, I let it rest for seven months, and when I threw my first bullpen [this spring] it was right back to where it was before,” Percival said. “I know I can’t throw anymore.”

Percival, who was on the mound for all three of the Angels’ playoff-clinching victories during their 2002 World Series run, has no regrets.

Though his arm was “killing” him Feb. 26, he was able to complete an inning at Lakeland, Fla.

“I ended up getting the save in an intrasquad game,” said Percival, who signed a two-year, $12-million deal with the Tigers before 2005. “It wasn’t pretty, but I left on the mound, on my terms.”

He said the finality of his career set in during his cross-country ride home.

“But I was never one of those guys who only had baseball,” Percival said. “I’ll be OK. I’ll go home, work on my cars, play with my son and daughter and just be a normal dad.”

*

Manny Acta, manager of the Dominican Republic’s World Baseball Classic team, put Vladimir Guerrero on the seven-day bereavement list, in hopes the Angel slugger would join the team later in the tournament.

The team also hung Guerrero’s WBC uniform in a Kissimmee, Fla., clubhouse locker and hung his jersey from the cage during batting practice Sunday.

But Guerrero, who opted out of the classic after three cousins were killed in a Feb. 26 car accident in the Dominican Republic, reiterated that he would not play in the WBC. Guerrero was replaced on the 30-man roster by Luis Polonia, a 42-year-old outfielder who hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2000.

“It makes me feel happy, like I’m part of the team, to have my uniform in a locker there,” Guerrero said through an interpreter. “

Guerrero played in his first exhibition of the spring, getting a hit in two at-bats and making a nice over-the-shoulder catch to rob Eliezer Alfonzo of extra bases in the Angels’ 11-3 loss to San Francisco.

“I’m trying to get my mind away from everything [in the Dominican Republic] now and think about baseball,” Guerrero said. “I feel happy. I’m excited to be back on the field.”

*

Jeff Weaver said he doesn’t focus on results this early in the spring, and after giving up eight runs and eight hits, including two three-run home runs in the first inning to Mark Sweeney and Alfonzo, in 2 1/3 innings against the Giants on Monday, it’s easy to understand why.

“I wasn’t even throwing breaking balls -- it was all fastballs and change-ups,” Weaver said. “You have to stick with the plan, regardless of the results.” ... John Lackey (shoulder stiffness) threw long toss and is scheduled to throw in the bullpen Wednesday. Barring a setback, the right-hander will make his exhibition debut Friday.... After getting beaned by a first-inning fastball, Darin Erstad hit a two-run homer in the sixth.